


Curses and Roses

by Moonlit_notebook



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura as Belle, Alternate Universe - Beauty and the Beast Fusion, Beauty and the Beast AU, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, Minor Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Minor Keith/Lance (Voltron), Shiro as the Beast, Some Chapters are Untitled, slow updating, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-01-21 17:04:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12462111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonlit_notebook/pseuds/Moonlit_notebook
Summary: Prince Takashi had been greedy, and now a bitter witch had cursed him forever. But that's not what he was worried about. No, he was worried about all of his servants that were cursed with him because of his idiocy. Everyone who was in the castle the night he turned the witch away, would die here as ornamental objects, and it was all his fault. The only way for him to break the spell was to love and be loved in return, but who would even consider an ugly beast?Allura and her uncle, Coran, had moved to this town a few years back, and Allura had hated every minute of it. But when Coran goes out of town and only his horse returns, Allura sets foot on the adventure that she had been longing for.Or, a Beauty and the Beast Shallura AU for Voltron.





	1. Chapter 1

Years ago, now, there lived our young Prince Takashi in his extravagant castle. Though the prince had everything he asked for or desired, he was selfish and spoiled. It all changed when an old beggar woman came to the prince's castle. In exchange for shelter from the cold of the winter outside, she offered a single rose. 

The prince, for he had not yet been taught how to be kind, turned up his nose at the gift and the woman, for she was ugly and her gift was small. She warned him, saying that it was not wise for one to base their judgment on another's appearance, and that true beauty and kindness were found within. But he again turned her away, and her appearance melted away to reveal that of a powerful enchantress. Realizing his mistake, Takashi tried begging and pleading with the woman, but she did not listen. For she had seen that the prince had nothing to give, no love in his heart. As punishment, she turned him into a hideous beast and placed a powerful curse on the castle and all who lived there. 

The prince, ashamed of his appearance and monstrous form, locked himself in his castle and used what little magic he had to destroy or conceal any connection to the world outside. He left only a magic mirror so that he could see the outside world whenever he chose. 

The rose that the enchantress had offered him was truly enchanted and served as a timer for the curse. It would bloom until the prince's twenty-first year of isolation, and if he could learn to love and be loved in return by the time the last petal fell the curse would be lifted. If not, it would remain on him and his castle until they both crumbled to dust. 

The first years were hopeful, reading and learning as much as he could on romance and the sciences of love. But he soon lost all hope and fell into a deep despair. For who could ever love someone such as him? Who could learn to love a beast? 

* * *

Allura knew that the villagers liked to gossip about her behind her back. They weren't exactly quiet about it. For a while there she didn't like it and tried to hide her peculiarities. But she had soon learned that it didn't matter what they thought if she was in another world altogether. 

Today's world was an old favorite. The Kingdom of Altea, where a king had to face an old friend, turned enemy. She read it the first time when she was only a little older than a wee girl. The meaning changed every time she read it since. This time she was a little more focused on the traveling aspect of it, as she was feeling very restless in this small minded town. (It certainly didn't help that she was the only thing they ever talked about anymore.)

But now she'd finished the book again, and had to take it back to the church to exchange it for a new one. Or, as new as those old books got. Reaching the large oak doors, she enters from the one on the side that leads directly into the library. 

"Well, if it isn't the only bookworm I know," the father greets her. He doesn't take the book that she offers him and says "Keep it along with whatever you're getting today. It is one of your favorites, and I fear that it would only collect dust here."

"Are you sure?" Allura asks with delight etching into her voice. 

"My dear, I insist," he says. "Which one do you want this time? I'm afraid we don't have anything new for you."

"This one," she says. She points to the third book from the left, titled _Beauty and her Beast_. "I'd like to read that one again, please."

"Of course, my dear, of course."

And he sees her out the door and into the streets, which are still packed tight with people gossiping about, you guessed it, her. She starts reading her story, traveling to a castle in a wood far from here. She walks among the people in the streets, their paths and where they intersect with hers long memorized. She continues on, reading about Beauty and how she comes to meet her beast. When her path crosses one she hadn't memorized for its sporadic tendencies. 

"Hello, Allura," Lotor greets. But his smile is far too wide and not nearly genuine enough for Allura to believe that he accidentally ended in her way. 

"Good morning, Lotor. Now if you excuse me..." she tries to move around him, to no avail. Instead, he just takes her book, holding it above his head and out of her reach. 

"Now, is that any way to speak to me?" he mocks.

Allura decides that she isn't giving in today and that she's already behind schedule, so instead of saying another greeting and making painful small talk she kicks him hard in the back of the knee and grabs her book from him when he bends over in pain. She sees his 'minion' Ezor lean over in an effort to help him, covering her laughter with a fist. 

The church clocktower said that Allura had two hours before her only engagement today, so she turns to go home and read her book in the privacy and comfort of her home. And her uncle, Coran, was probably waiting for her return. So she stops by the bakery on the way out of the town square, picking up a baguette for them to eat over the course of the day. 

She enters their quaint little home with little gusto. Coran is hard at work with his new invention for the fair tomorrow, only barely visible due to his lower half sticking out the bottom. "Welcome back, dear would you please hand me the- the um. Oh, now, what do they call it?"

"A screwdriver, Coran," Allura says, sitting opposite him and handing him the tool.

"Yes, thank you, Allura." He continues tinkering with the inner working of the machine. "Did anything interesting happen in town today?"

"Actually, the strangest thing happened. Lotor wanted to talk to me, although we didn't talk about why."

"You didn't do anything, did you?"

"Of course not."

"Allura."

"He took my book while I was reading it!" She defended. "Of course I did something!"

Coran sighed. He moved out from under the contraption and turned to his niece. "Allura, you know that I love you. And you know that I know how you love your books. And we both know that this town isn't for you. But you cannot lose your temper with others. Ever."

"Yes, uncle. I understand."

"Good." Coran returned to under the machine. "Now hand me the bangy-thingy. What time do you have to go to the Holt's?"

"Just after one. I'm going to bring my books with me, as well as the paper. I want to get as much spelling practice in as I can." 

* * *

Allura brought her basket of supplies with her when she left town just after twelve-thirty, and read her book as she passed the gossiping townsfolk, who's rumors were renewed by her appearance. She reached the Holt residence, on the outside of the other side of town, just before one. She momentarily debated whether to wait until she was on time or go ahead and knock now. She went with the latter.

"Oh, Allura. Come in, do come in," Colleen Holt greeted. "Sit here, I fetch our little pigeon. Would you like anything to eat? To drink?"

"I had lunch before I left, but thank you."

It isn't long before Katie "Pidge" Holt descends the stairs with the blank book that they had been using for these lessons and she sits across from Allura, ready to learn.

"Dad and I have been working on vocabulary. Mom is making me practice writing my letters a lot," the girl reports. 

Twice a week, on Tuesdays and on Thursdays, Allura would visit the Holts and teach their daughter how to read. It was very controversial, as it was not normal in the village for people to teach their daughters to read. That's why the Holts had asked Allura to do so, as they knew she would agree to the idea and even encourage it. And they were right.

They started the lesson, and Colleen left to go to the market shortly after. Samuel left when they had turned to reading the books, heading to the church. It was only after he left that Allura took notice of the painting hanging in the social room of the house. It was the Holts, only there was another person with them. A boy, older than Pidge, but who looked exactly like her. If the height and age differences weren't so prominent they could pass as twins. 

"Pidge," she asked. "Who is in the painting with you and your parents?"

Pidge turned to see the painting that Allura was asking about. "Oh," she says. "That's my brother Matthew. He went missing when I was younger. I have to find him. Only, Mother and Father don't remember him."

"Why?"

"I don't know. But I'm going to find out, and I'm going to find him, and I'm going to fix it so I can have my family back. That's why I want to know how to read." 

Allura looked at Pidge, really looked. She'd done it before when the girl had expressed her desire and determination. But Allura had never known the cause behind that driving force. The fact that the cause was so noble, yet mysterious, both pleased and disturbed her. "Why didn't they take the painting down, then?"

"They know he's important. They just don't know why."

Allura nods, internally debating whether this would count as 'playing along' or 'conspiring'. She continued with the lesson, getting farther in the book with minimal mistakes from the young girl. Allura was proud of her, even if she didn't entirely believe her story.

Later, after her return home and shortly before dinner, she answers a knock on the door to Lotor. He comes striding in arrogantly and entirely full of himself. She half listens to whatever he says, sorting out her small collection of books that were on the table back onto their shelf. That is, she doesn't listen until she hears "our children"

"I'm sorry," she interrupts. "Could you repeat that?" 

And, being the idiot he is, he does. "Our children. Young tough boys, like myself. I'd take them out hunting on the weekends and you would be making dinner at home, with a boiling pot of water waiting for whatever the day's game was."

"Is the delusion you've been living in, Lotor?" Allura doesn't try to be kind. "I would never marry you. Never would I give you children. Never would I make you dinner. Never would I wait for you. We will never have a future, Lotor. So long as it is in my power, I will never marry you."

With that, Allura kicks him out the front door unceremoniously and takes her own leave out of the back. She can't stay in one place when she's this angry. She turns to her uncle's horse, Chulatt, and says "Me? Marry him? I would never marry that boorish, brainless..."

She sighs long and heavy. "I just want more than this. I just want adventure."

Little did she know, that her own adventure was brewing in a dark castle hidden by wood. The hand of fate, as it was what always caused these sorts of things, pushed some trees out of the way, so that tomorrow everything would work just right the next morning. So that it could drive Takashi and Allura together like it had in a million other universes. 


	2. Detours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coran leaves for the fair and curiously gets lost.

It's the next morning that Allura sees Coran leave for the fair, his latest invention in the wagon behind him. She preps it, making sure that the machine is secure and protected from the elements that Coran will encounter along the way. She packs the supplies for his journey, food, water, clothes, the like. She feeds the horse, and Coran finally comes out of the house with the rest of his luggage. He hops onto the horse's saddle and turns to his niece.

"Now, what do you want me to get for you?"

"A rose," she says without hesitation. In the portrait of her parents, that she had long embedded into her memory, there was a vase of roses to their right. She had always done her best to keep them around to connect with them. Coran didn't stop her, but she had a feeling that he didn't approve either.

"You ask for that every year!" He says.

"And every year you bring it."

"And this one will be another. You will have your rose, my dear. And I will finally get the price with this here machine!" The mustached man pats said machine and urges the horse he's sitting atop to go forward toward the path. Allura watches him go and waves until he's just a speck in the distance, and even more then.

Coran leaving for the fair was always a bittersweet moment each year, as Allura always wants to go with him more than anything. But someone has to watch and feed the chickens, and she knows that coming back would be worse than not going at all. No, the kind of adventure that Allura craved was the kind that changed your life for the better, for forever. Allura wanted out of this town of small minds and suffocating futures. The fair wouldn't do that, even if Coran won the grand prize this year.

* * *

Coran was not very good with maps and directions, and his horse was no help. So when the path diverges in the middle of a thunderstorm and he doesn't remember which way is the right way, he takes the path on the right. He knows he made the wrong decision when he finds a castle, ruined and crumbling. But it's night, and the storm left him wet and tired. So he enters the castle and proceeds to spend the night in front of the hearth wrapped in a blanket that he found and his overclothes dripping dry over the fireplace.

It wasn't until the next morning that he thought of his niece's annual request, and seeing the flowers in the garden he made his way over and grabbed the biggest bloom he saw. However, it must've been a mistake for in the next instant his horse was running away and a large figure was standing in front of him, blocking every direction he could've run in. The mighty creature- the beast- towered over him and spoke lowly, "You have taken my rose."

Coran starts to apologize, to explain, but the beast lifts him like he might lift one of his chickens, and carries him back into the castle and drags him into the dungeons. Coran silently apologizes to his dear Allura, for both that he wouldn't be returning home anytime in the foreseeable future and that he didn't get her the rose he had always gotten her. The Beast throws him into a cell, in a very literal sense, locks the door and stomps away.

Coran calls after him, "Wait, wait please!" to no avail. The Beast does not turn around. Coran is left alone in the dark.

* * *

When Coran's horse comes back without him Allura is scared. So is the horse. She spends a good ten minutes getting him to calm down. Unlatching the wagon from him alone was hard enough, actually getting him to eat and drink was another matter altogether. But she did it so that he could show her where he lost Coran. Wherever he is, he needs help. Or at least a horse.

Allura is still scared when she rides the horse into the woods that Coran had headed into a day earlier. However, it shifts to fiery anger when she is led to a castle and the horse refuses to go anywhere past the gate. Someone was holding her uncle captive. She takes a fallen branch from nearby, and heads in the front doors. She doesn't think, not really. She knows that she has a poor shot of taking out anyone her uncle couldn't. But she heaves the large stick anyway, out of fear and anger. Mostly anger by the time she finds the dungeons and descends into them.

"Coran!" she yells, too far gone to bother quieting her voice. The echo in the room only empowers her.

"Allura?" a small whisper answers. "Allura my dear, go away from here."

Allura finds Coran's cell (the word itself makes her angry, who on Earth would lock up her well-meaning and kind uncle?) and all but sits on the floor outside of it. She takes her uncle's hands, says "you're ice cold!" and quickly does her best to warm his hands given their limitations.

"You- you need to get out of here," Coran says through coughs.

Allura shakes her head, the thought not even registering in her cloud of anger. "Who did this to you?" she demands. Coran flinches at her tone and repeats his order for her to run. "I'm not leaving without you. Who did this?"

There's movement behind her, something large and dangerous. "He is my prisoner." A gruff voice growls out. It's scratchy, and all it does is serve to add to Allura's anger.

"And what did he do to warrant imprisonment? What basis do you have to keep him here?"

"He stole from me."

Coran takes a breath and goes into a coughing fit, as if he were going to protest.

"He's sick!" Allura shouts, making Coran flinch. "He'll die!"

"That is no concern of mine."

Allura stands at full height, moving her makeshift club so that it's hidden behind her skirt. "Let me take him home. Restore him back to health."

"His health is none of my concern."

Allura growled, seeing red. "Alright, I tried to appeal to your better nature but it seems you have none. I'm taking my uncle home and if you have a problem with it we can go and go _right now!"_

The large silhouette doesn't respond to her- somewhat empty- threats. He merely moves in front of the door. Blocking Allura's only exit. Maybe she should've thought this through more.

The silhouette speaks, "I will let him go on one condition, you take his place."

Coran immediately tries protesting behind her, but it turns into another coughing fit where he can only get out the words "no" and "don't". Allura doesn't listen, as she's prone to do.

However, she is hesitant. "Come into the light," she demands. The silhouette complies. The moonlight from the windows shows a beast, hideous and mean. Allura schools the fear that she's sure is in her expression and glares at him eye-to-eye. "I accept."

"No, Allura, no!" her uncle protests. "No! You're young, live your life! I'm old- I'll die soon anyway!" The beast unlocks his cell and lifts him out of it. "No! No, please! Allura! Allura, no!"

She hears his protests even as the beast has him taken away. But the beast doesn't leave and instead turns to her. "I will show you to your room. Follow me."

It wasn't a request. 

Neither was his dinner "offer", though she acts like it is. She refuses until he loses his temper, tells her that she isn't allowed to eat without him. She refuses even then, and he stomps off and leaves her alone. 

So she sits on the bed and thinks. Or avoids thinking. It doesn't matter anyway because she cries. Loud, ugly, make-your-throat-sore sobs. There are very few of them in her little breakdown, but it leaves her crying freely and sniffling. She buries herself into the mound of pillows at the end of her bed until she pulls herself together. She needed to escape. She eyes the window, and, checking the height of the tower, and begins to use the blankets and curtains to build a rope. She could probably jump three feet, maximum. And the tower was a good twenty. She needed a good five blankets, maybe three curtains. Unfortunately, she was limited to the numbers three and two. She could use the sheets too, but they might not hold up. Maybe towards the end of the rope where they wouldn't be holding the other blanket's weight and just hers.

There was a knock at the door. "Dear, may we come in?" a voice Allura didn't recognize asks. 

 _'Well, I suppose he's got to have servants,'_ Allura thinks. "Just a minute!" is what she says.

The door opens anyway. Allura moves to cover the rope she'd built out the window and tied to the dresser, but all that comes in is a tray with a teapot and teacup on it. "Hello?" she says, confused.

"On the tray," the voice says. Allura looks at the tray to discover that, yes, the teapot was the one talking. "Hello," he says. 

Allura, startled, doesn't respond. 

"Hunk, and it's a pleasure to meet you. This here," he nods to the teapot that accompanies him, "Is Matt. We'd thought you'd like to eat since you didn't get to- ah, earlier."

"Thank you, but I'm not hungry," Allura says, pointedly not looking at the window. 

Hunk, however, doesn't bother. He gestures to it. "At least get something in you before your journey."

"You're- you're not going to stop me?"

"I have no reason to. In fact, I'd encourage you. A young girl like yourself surely has a life to live outside of this castle." The teacup, Matt, looks sad but nods his agreement. "Here, let me introduce you to someone who can help. Shay? Shay, wake up, dear."

The tray rolls to the closet, where Hunk the teapot greets the wardrobe inside. She wakes up with a large yawn and- oddly, but not unexpected in retrospect- sneezes a few moths in the process. The wardrobe apologizes and turns to the teapot, "Hunk, dear, is this-" she makes a vague gesture to Allura.

"Yes, we think so. We've invited her to dinner downstairs."

"I thought that the Beast said if I didn't eat with him I don't get to eat at all?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Shay said. "We haven't listened to him in a while. Now, you best go off to dinner, I'll leave the rope of curtains untouched, don't worry. And I'll get new sheets and blankets on your bed, you'd need new ones anyway."

Allura thanks the large wardrobe and follows the tray with the teapot and the sad teacup down to the dining room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please tell me what you think in the comments!


	3. Disobedience

When Allura followed Hunk the talking teapot to the dining room, she expected a small meal or leftovers from when the Beast ate. What she didn't expect was a full-blown music number and dance sequence. She met the entire kitchen staff, Lance the candlestick, and his lover Keith the mantle clock. Both of which were excellent singers. She decided not to think about how long they had practiced that- or how long they had been cursed- opting instead to enjoy the show and the meal.

When Shiro found out that his servants had gone against his orders and fed Allura dinner anyway, he had not been thrilled. 

"My orders were that if she didn't eat with me she doesn't eat at all!" he shouted at Keith.

"Well, yes, but we thought that the poor girl needed to eat. She was hungry, sir."

"Then she should've come to dinner!"

"Would you have gone to dinner if you had been asked like that?" Keith said, angry. "Shiro, if you don't start getting your act together and at least be nice to her she's going to go away! What will we do then?"

"...You think she will break the curse."

Keith, who had been given specific instructions not to mention the curse or how Allura could break it to the prince, stayed silent. 

"We will find another way to break this curse. Haggar would not make it that easy."

"Well, it certainly isn't _easy_ if you keep doing this! Just, try better next time, Okay?"

Shiro didn't answer, instead asking "Did you tell her not to go in the West Wing?"

"I'm sure Lance will mention it."

Shiro groaned. 

* * *

"What's over there?" Allura asked, gesturing to the staircase opposite the one leading to her room. Hunk starts running off excuses for why she doesn't need to go there, suddenly nervous and blowing a little steam out of his spout.

"Lance?" she asks instead, thinking she might get more answers out of the clear troublemaker of the group. 

"It's the west wing-"

"Lance!"

"-but we don't need to go there. It's incredibly boring."

If that exchange alone didn't peak Allura's interest, the way that Hunk glared at Lance certainly would've. 

"Is that so? Can you show me around anyway? We can move on afterward," she says.

"No!" Hunk yells. Lance quickly says: "Er- there's no need. Incredibly boring, there's so much other stuff that we can see in the castle! It'd be a waste of time to show you that! The rest of the castle is quite grand. There's the ballroom-"

"Yes, the ballroom," Hunk says. "and the formal dining room, which you've actually already seen, the party room, the kitchen itself, the library-"

"The library?" Allura asks, admittedly intrigued. 

"Ah, yes! The library! Follow us!" Hunk and Lance lead the way down the room and through a hallway, but Allura doesn't follow them beyond that. While she does want to see the library, she wants to see the West Wing more. So she heads back to the staircase and does her best to silently climb it. It opens to a hallway, identical to the one leading to her room until she reaches the end of it. A door is open, and outside of it, there is cobwebs and dust. 

Allura pays it no mind and enters the room, which is in no better a state. All the furniture is torn and ripped, covered in dust and signs of age. There is a painting- framed in elaborate gold and hanging crooked on the wall. It too is torn and yellowing. Allura moves toward it, moving the torn edges back to where they belong so that she may see the portrait as it once was. _'Why did he rip it?'_ she asks herself. There is no doubt that it was him, for only his long claws could do such a thing, but she did not know why. 

The portrait showed a man around her age. He had dark hair, and dark gray eyes, the kind of eyes that looked like they could be anywhere searching for anything, and Allura found herself returning the man's faraway smile, for she felt that they were kindred spirits in that regard. All she could think was that she knew him from somewhere and that she would love to meet him again.

She reluctantly moved on from the painting and went further into the room. The furniture continued to be in poor shape, from either age or abuse, she couldn't tell. But what really caught her attention was the table set up just inside the balcony. It was small, something you would put near your bed or your chairs, to hold something ornate. It was not as rough as the rest of the furniture, in that it hadn't been scratched or torn or even yellowed like the rest. But what really captured the girl's attention was what was on the table. 

There was a rose. It floated as if suspended in midair, and it was enclosed in a glass case. Allura, thinking nothing of it, removed the case and set it to the side. She reached for the rose. 

Roses had always been important to her. Her late parents had grown them as much as they could in their small living space when she was a child, and one of her earliest memories is her father telling her to be careful of every flower that she grabbed at. If she held it too tight it would be crushed, and die. And the flowers grew thorns that could hurt her if she wasn't wary. _"It's the same with people,"_ he had said. _"If you aren't careful, they can hurt you. And if you aren't careful, you can hurt them."_ Her father's words had always been wise, and every rose reminded her of him. 

But before she can touch the still-floating rose, a force (that she recognizes a second later as the Beast) pushes her back and puts the case back over the rose. 

"What did you do to it?" he yells at her. "What did you do?"

Allura, terrified for her life, just runs. She gets out of that room and runs as fast and as far as she can- and then she's throwing her coat on and leaving without answering the questions that Keith and Matthew are firing at her and with no regard for the blizzard outside. She's mounted the horse and entered the forest before she even thinks, and long before she ever looks behind her. 

When she does look behind her, however, it's because she's surrounded by at least two dozen wolves and only has a tree llimb the size of her thigh to defend herself with. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! I've been pretty sick lately and haven't felt up to writing. I'm also sorry about the cliffhanger here, even though we all really know what happens.  
> As always, leave comments and kudos if you enjoyed! And hit me up on Tumblr if you want to: @moonlit-notebook


	4. Chapter 4

Allura backs herself up into a corner, foolishly thinking that if the wolves can't come from behind her maybe she can take them all out with her branch. She takes out two before one grabs her leg and tugs.

She screams. She screams as loud as she can, not caring who hears her so long as someone does and comes to help- 

and a dark silhouette leaps over her and the pack of wolves. The shadow, _'the beast'_ she realizes, and she would've thought more of it if her blood wasn't mostly adrenalin and if he didn't charge at her immediately after landing in the snow. 

Allura yells in surprise and moves to cover her head, but the Beast rips the stunned wolf off her leg and moves overtop of her, fighting the rest of the pack rushing to get at either of them. He slashes at one charging at her head, another toward her arms. She moves to stand beside him. He delivers a nasty blow to the next wolf and a lackluster one after that.

Allura disregards her bleeding calf in favor of picking up the branch she had earlier and helping the Beast defend their lives. She swings it at ever monster the Beast misses, going for the lower- aimed ones while he took the taller hits. 

Their partnership didn't last long, however, as soon the wolf pack was leaving and they were left with blood-stained snow, a frightened horse, and at least two concerning injuries each.

Allura turns to give the Beast her thanks, but he falls into the snow. She gasps, checking his breath and seeing if she could find some kind of pulse through all that fur- and his arm is bleeding severely. She looks up at her horse- she could leave, she has nothing here... and she looks down at the Beast, at his face _"Nothing but debt,"_ she thinks. 

But it is something else that encourages her to lift the Beast on the horse and to lead the horse back to the Enchanted Castle. 

* * *

With the servant's help, and with Hunk dishing out orders a mile a minute, Allura was able to get the Beast to his bed and his arm bandaged. 

When she reaches the doors, she attempts to heave the Beast off the horse, the castle staff rushing to get her any assistance as soon as they saw their master's state. Hunk yells for the larger furniture to help with the lifting, and they slowly move him to his bedroom upstairs. 

Matt quickly brings her bandages for her calf as soon as they're settled into the Beast's room.

"Thank you," she whispers absently.

Hunk has her wrap the wounds on the Beast's (that name sounded far too inhuman now, after he'd saved her) arm, and she didn't let her mind stray as she diligently completed the task.

"Will he be alright?" She asked Keith. "He lost a lot of blood."

"I don't know. I'm afraid I don't know a lot about medicine. The absolute worst case is that he loses his arm, but I think you got him here fast enough to avoid that."

"He's going to be fine," Hunk says. "We just need to keep an eye on him and change the bandages regularly so that he doesn't get an infection."

"Thank god," Allura says. 

She felt awful. If she hadn't run in the first place he wouldn't have had to attack the wolves at all. If she had kept up her end of the deal, he wouldn't be injured. She could only imagine how it would be if he'd lost his arm- how the gnawing in her stomach would be much worse.

She moves away, having finished with the wrappings, and moves to leave.

She's at the door when the Beast awakes with a groan. He winces as he tries to move his arm, and sits up despite Hunk and Keith's protests. 

It's silent for a beat.

"You're here," he says, surprised.

"Am I not supposed to be?" she says. He winces and she remembers the West Wing a bit too late. "Sorry, sorry- I'll just... Go. To my room."

"Take Matt with you," he said.

Yesterday, Allura wouldn't have followed the gruff order. But today she was too shaken to do anything but let the teacup bounce up onto her shoulder as she left the room.

She walked on in silence, neither herself or Matthew breaking it. Everyone was rushing about the hallway around them, making Allura feel as if in some kind of trance as she walked slowly to her tower. 

She was lost in thought. Why did the Beast want her out of the West Wing so badly? What was there that she wasn't supposed to see?

The obvious answer was the rose. He freaked out when he saw her near it. But why was it so important? And why did it float like that?

And why did he come back for her? The rose clearly wasn't that big a deal when he chased after her after she'd left their deal. Or had she? Had she broken it so that now he would hold both her and Coran captive?

She couldn't see him doing that. No, she hadn't broken the deal to that degree. She was still here, and he hadn't said anything about Coran since he went home. But she'd left- was she still a prisoner here?

"Allura?" Matthew said. "We're in your room."

They were. Allura had been stewing over her thoughts for so long that she had completely spaced out the entire trip.

"Thank you, Matt. Sorry- I was distracted."

"Yeah, I noticed. What's on your mind?"

Allura half lies and says "Does the Beast have a name? It's so weird calling him 'the Beast' and he saved me from those wolves, so I feel like the least I could do is call him by his name."

{Now, Matt had known Prince Takashi Shirogane for most his life, and he knew that there was a good chance that Allura was the only chance they would have to break the curse. So he did his old friend a favor.}

"Shiro. That's what we all called him before this mess started."

"Shiro?" Allura asked. "Does it fit him? I don't think I know him well enough to tell."

"I think you should get to know him more, and see for yourself."

* * *

 

Shiro relays an invite to dinner through Keith, and this time Allura accepts. It wasn't the dining room show that her first meal was, but she didn't want that. What she wanted to do was get to know Shiro better, to follow Matt's advice and see if the name fit.

Which was rather hard when they were sitting on opposite ends of the dining table. 

So she kept up the silence, questions jumping around her head as her companion ate his soup. The silence wasn't as loud as it used to be (Allura briefly smiles at the oxymoron her brain has supplied) and a lot more comfortable. 

"You aren't eating," Shiro stated. "If the food isn't to your liking I can have them make something else, Lance! Hunk!"

"No! No! That's not it at all!" Allura said, waving Lance and Hunk away. "The food's fine, and I like it! I'm just not very hungry, is all."

Shiro raised a skeptical eyebrow. (Or at least what Allura thought was an eyebrow, it was hard to tell with the rest of the hair on his face.) "Not hungry? After the wolves earlier?"

"Yes, how's your arm?"

"How's your leg?"

Allura frowns at her soup, using her spoon to play with it. "It's fine," she says.

"Your limp says otherwise," he argued.

"I'm fine, I promise. I'll change the bandages every day and everything."

"Good."

"You just have to do the same."

It was Shiro's turn to frown down at his food. "Fine."

Allura, pleased with herself, began to eat her soup again. Now that she and Shiro were talking, there were a million things she could ask him. The rose seemed like a touchy subject, so she'd leave that one alone- but maybe why the Castle was enchanted? Maybe why he saved her? Whether or not their deal was off after she ran away?

"Something on your mind?" Shiro asked.

"Yeah, actually," Allura took a moment to swallow another spoonful and choose which question to ask. "Why is the castle enchanted like it is? Why is everyone cursed?"

Shiro pulled back, sitting straight in his chair. Allura saw him mentally distance himself and was going to apologize, tell him he didn't have to answer, before she stopped herself. She wanted to know.

"It's my fault. I was young, and I was greedy. A woman asked for a place to stay and I refused to give her one. Turns out she was a witch. She cursed the castle, its staff, myself, and even the town. And we've been like this ever since."

"She cursed the town?"

"So that they wouldn't remember the castle or anyone in it. Kept us hidden. I'd be grateful if that didn't mean the staff was separated from their families. I hate doing this to them, they don't deserve it. They've looked out for me my whole life, some were my friends."

"Matt," Allura said.

"And Keith. Lance, Hunk, Shay... I did this to them." You could see the guilt and shame in his eyes. Allura looked over to the door, which Lance and Hunk had never really left, and found a crestfallen expression on them too.

"Is there any way to fix it?" Allura asked.

Shiro was still staring at his soup.

"Yes, but it's a long shot that I gave up on forever ago. There's nothing I can do, nothing you can do." 

"Nothing?" Allura whispers. 

"Nothing." Shiro makes eye contact with her this time, and she sees a young man who once craved adventure (not unlike herself) and sees what the despair of the situation and guilt from the curse is doing to him.  She sees the loss of hope that had turned him cold so long ago. 

She tears her gaze away and meets that of Lance and Hunk. The stark difference amazed her. Where Shiro had only despair the animated candlestick and teapot looked at her with the same hope that Pidge had once gazed at her as she read her favorite stories out loud. 

She smiles at them. 

She turns back to Shiro and tells him, "You'd be surprised what I can do with nothing."


	5. Chapter 5

Coran threw open the door to the bar- "Help me! Help me!" He screamed. 

Where was Lotor? He fancied Allura, he'd certainly help him...

"Someone, help me!"

"Coran?" Someone asked (Axca, turns out) 

"Please, help me! Please, please I need your help! He's got her! He's got her locked in a dungeon! We haven't a moment to lose!"

"Slow down, Coran," Lotor (Thank the heavens!) said. "Who's locked in a dungeon?"

"Allura! My precious neice Allura. Please Lotor, you'll help me, won't you?"

"Who would lock Allura in a dungeon?" Lotor's friend asked. 

"A beast!" Coran shouted. "A horrible, monsterous beast!"

The small crowd laughed. "Is he an ugly beast?" Someone asked.

"Hideous!"

"A big beast?" said someone else.

"Huge!" Coran turned to Lotor, all but outright pleading. "Will you help me?"

"Oh, we'll help you alright," Someone said, as they lifted Coran up, throwing him out of the bar and into the cold snow outside. The loud ruckus picked back up in the bar, and Coran felt more helpless than he did when his neice first took his place as the creature's prisoner.

"I'll save you, Allura," he promised to himself. "Even if I have to do it all on my own."

* * *

Allura wasn't sure how long it had been since she had first gotten here, but she felt much better about it now. Now that she knew he was a human under all that fur, and not just a malicious creature that had taken her uncle away from her. No, he was so much more now.

They were regularly eating together at meals now. To the point that Allura began to look forward to what Shiro would say over breakfast porridge or the jokes he would make while they drank afternoon tea. 

It had snowed recently. Shiro had confessed that he hadn't played in the snow before, and today Allura was determined to change that. 

"Come on!" she shouted back at him, running through the garden in winter clothes and cloak. 

However, when Shiro did come outside he was immediantly hit in the face with a snowball.

"Oh, so you wanna play it that way, huh?" he said. Smirking, he gathered up his own snowball and chased Allura down. They ran around the fountain until Shiro threw the snowball (snow-boulder) on Allura and covered her in it. 

She then started her own artillery factory and somehow got snow in Shiro's ear.

The fight continued with Shiro pummeling Allura with smaller snowballs as she shrieked with laugheter.

"Okay, okay!" Allura said. "I surrender! I surrender!" In a dramatic fashion, she put the back of her wrist on her forehead and said in a high-pitched voice, "I have been defeated! The empress of Fort Snow, lies on her deathbed, in a nest of defeat!" And true to her word, Allura sank to the ground with the same air of drama.

"Oh mon dieu, Allura, get up," Shiro said, laughing. 

"I can't I'm dead. Didn't you hear? I've been defeated."

"Yes, yes, you can no longer stand as empress, I know."

A beat of silence.

"That was a joke worthy of my uncle."

* * *

"Look!" Allura said. "Birds! You know what that means, don't you?"

"Uh. Bird poop? An angry Lance?"

"Well, yes, but it also means spring is coming soon."

Shiro squinted at the birds, as if trying to memorize them. "Really? How do you know?"

"Migration patterns. I read about them in one of my books. This kind of bird only gets here on the tail end of winter, for when things start to bloom again."

"You must have been really bored."

Allura huffed, "It's not like I had anything else to read."

"Wait, really? You had nothing to read but bird's migration patterns?" Shiro looked at her as if it were a personal offense.

"Well, and a few storybooks, but not many-"

"No, no, this is a crime. We must rectify this immediantly. Forget snow, I'm taking you to the castle library."

"Castle Library?" It was the second time Allura had heard it mentioned, and this time she was significantly more intrigued. "Can you show me where it is? Lance said something about it in his intital tour of the castle, but I never got to see it."

"Of course."

* * *

"Here you go- the castle's library."

Allura stared openmouth at the expanse of books and shelves in front of her. "I've never seen this many books in my life!"

All the places she could go...

"They're all yours," Shiro said. "All the books you could ever want."

Allura turns to look at him, teary eyed.

"Thank you, Shiro."

She misses how he stiffens at the name, and how it's the first time she's called him that out loud. 

She misses how much the name fits.

She's staring at the books again, trying to decide where to start. (There were so many to choose from, how was she to decide?) So she starts running her fingertips along the spines, looking for anything to jump out. Soon she has a stack of three, then five, then she's trying to balance a tenth,

She's staring at the books again. How was she supposed to decide where to start? So she picks a shelf on random and walks down it, running her hand along the spines at eye-level. She picks out all the ones that catch her attention, none of which she's heard of, and grows a small stack at her hip. One becomes two, two becomes three, three becomes five, five becomes nine, until she's struggling to carry them with both arms and Shiro is taking them with a soft "let me help".

She smiles at him in thanks. 

Five more titles make it to the stack before Shiro stops her. "You should read these," he says. "You can come back later for the rest."

And so she has him help her bring the books to a table, and the rest of the afternoon is spent with Allura reading to Shiro, and Shiro listening and commenting.

Allura goes to bed that night with a warm feeling in her gut, and a much lighter mood. Even Shay commented on it as Allura changed into night clothes. "Good day?" She asked.

"The best," Allura said. "He showed me the library today. We read some, and he asked some questions about it. Stuff I'd never thought about before! Imagine that."

"Yes, imgaine that. Did you enjoy the library today, then? Did you still play in the snow?"

"I did, and we did. I think he enjoyed it. He certainly enjoyed covering me in snow, anyway."

Shay smiled at her. "I'm happy you two are getting along."

"Yeah," Allura said. "Me too."


End file.
